Identifying Document Break Fields
Document break fields are index fields that are used to logically divide reports into documents. As a result, even though entire reports are stored in the warehouse, users are able to retrieve individual documents from within them when performing a search.
Typically, the creator of the original report has set up the document in a way that can help you identify break fields. Reports are generally organized according to some type of sorting criteria. For instance, you might have an employee listing broken out by department within each regional office. Each department could be treated as a separate document. Document breaks do not have to appear on page boundaries. They may occur anywhere within a report file.
You need to identify the criteria used to organize a report and then determine a suitable break field for the report. Here are some specific tips regarding break fields:
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Imagine the report being cut apart with scissors. This is the effect of a break field. If a header appears only once on a page and you break that page into more than one document, only the first document from that page will have the header included. You cannot duplicate header information from the report across multiple documents.
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Look for lines that provide numerical subtotals. You should be sure to include in a single document all the previous lines that contribute to that subtotal, along with the subtotal line itself.
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Consider how page boundaries affect your document breaks. You do not need to be limited by them, but many reports will issue a top-of-page command before beginning a new sort field.
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Break the report into subsections that stand alone and "make sense".
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Consider how users will be working with the documents. If users always want to look at an office location in its entirety, then it makes no sense to break out documents by department.
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Decide how duplicate consecutive break field values should be handled. If you have a report that contains invoices, for example, you might have 3 or 4 invoices in a row for the same customer. How should that situation be handled? Do your users want to see all invoices for the customer as one single document, or do they want each invoice as a separate document? Either option is available. The user’s needs will dictate the appropriate solution.
Once you have identified which field in a report you want to break on, you're ready to break the report into separate documents by specifying a document break field. A document break field creates only virtual breaks in a report. The report is still stored in its entirety, but the document break allows the users to retrieve only portions of the report (documents).
NOTE: Specifying a document break field is part of the document type configuration process.
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